Welcome to my poetry: The Recycling Fiasco!

I’ve just read on the news that the government has admitted that a lot of our carefully sorted recycling waste is being shipped to mainly Asian countries and dumped in landfill.

This reminded me of a poem ‘what I wrote’ in 2008 when there was a rumour that the above was occurring back then! Denied vigorously no doubt!

Recycle!  (Written in 2008)

Recycle!  Recycle!  Recycle!

Save the planet before it’s too late!

Don’t risk being smothered by rubbish

By leaving it all down to fate.

The council, in all of its wisdom,

To help us with this grizzly task,

Has delivered us more bins and boxes,

We want more?  We have only to ask.

We now have a blue and a green box

And a new wheelie bin, also green,

To go with the grey one we’ve had all along.

A plastic recycler’s dream!

So it’s paper which goes in the blue box,

The green… batteries, bottles and cans,

Gardening stuff in the inadequate green wheelie bin,

To comply with the council’s demands.

Now the problem we have with this system

Is remembering which rubbish goes where,

Because soon ‘big brother’ is going to check,

So use the wrong bin if you dare!

They’re going to stick sensors under bin lids

To make sure we are doing it right,

Recycling gurus will be glued to their screens

Where they’ll revel in the tax payers’ plight.

Your wallet will be noticeably lighter,

If you can’t tell your tin from your glass,

Your cardboard from paper, your plastic from cloth,

And proverbial elbow from ass!

The lids must be closed they are saying,

Side rubbish will just be ignored.

Is that including the maggots and rats,

After black writhing bags have been gnawed?

Rats, already fat, will get fatter,

They’ll be clapping their verminous paws

To celebrate the increase in their species,

Courtesy…new recycling laws!

Landfill is supposedly full to the brim,

There just isn’t anymore room,

So rubbish will be fly-tipped over the hedge,

To add to the poor farmer’s gloom.

The recycling plant is some miles away,

Excess rubbish can go there at a sprint,

But by getting the car out to lighten their load

I’m enlarging my carbon footprint!

But, I’ve heard after sorting and sifting

With care into each bin and liner,

They’re saying it’s all lumped together again,

And shipped to a big hole…In CHINA!

Thanks for your time.

The Leebotwood Poet xx